New 'Clean Hands' Act Publicly Flags Gun Dealers Linked to Crime, Bans Them From Federal Contracts

The Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act is straightforward: it forces the federal government to publicly identify gun dealers whose sales frequently end up in crime scenes and then bans those dealers from getting federal contracts. This isn't about new gun regulations for buyers; it's about transparency and using the government's purchasing power to create consequences for dealers who might be supplying the criminal market.

The Public Shaming List: Who Gets Tagged?

This bill requires the Attorney General, through the ATF, to publish a list of "covered firearms dealers" every year. So, who lands on this list? It’s not arbitrary. A dealer is "covered" if the ATF’s National Tracing Center has traced at least 25 firearms back to their business within the last three years, and those guns were recovered by police in connection with a crime within three years of the sale (SEC. 4). This metric, often called “time-to-crime,” focuses on guns that move quickly from the legal market to the streets.

Think of it this way: if you’re a dealer and 25 of your sales become crime guns within 36 months, you’ve hit the threshold. This requirement is based on data from at least two of the three preceding calendar years, meaning the tracking is consistent, not a one-off spike. For the average person, this means the government is finally putting a spotlight on the small fraction of dealers who disproportionately supply crime guns.

Losing the Government’s Business

The real punch of this bill is the contract ban (SEC. 3). Once a dealer is publicly listed as "covered," they are immediately ineligible to receive any contract from any federal agency—whether it’s the Department of Transportation buying office supplies or the Department of Veterans Affairs needing services. This prohibition lasts for the current year and the two preceding years that the dealer was listed. For a dealer who relies on lucrative government contracts, this is a major financial disincentive.

This is a classic example of using the power of the purse. The government is essentially saying, “If you are a known source of crime guns, we won’t do business with you.” This could significantly impact dealers who run large operations that happen to also bid on federal work, forcing them to tighten up their sales practices or lose out on government revenue.

The National Security Loophole

There is a major exception carved out in the bill (SEC. 3). The Attorney General can waive the contract restriction if the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Homeland Security requests it, claiming the contract is necessary for national security. This provision gives significant discretionary power to three Cabinet-level officials. If a dealer is flagged but also happens to be the sole supplier of a niche item crucial for national defense, the ban can be lifted.

While this exception sounds reasonable on paper—you don't want to compromise national security over a contract ban—it also creates a potential loophole. The bill doesn't define what constitutes a national security necessity, giving the Attorney General broad, subjective authority to override the public transparency mandate. If a waiver is granted, the Attorney General must notify the Judiciary Committees in Congress, even if the notice needs to be classified. For those concerned about government accountability, this is the part of the bill that deserves the most scrutiny, as it allows certain dealers to keep contracts despite being publicly linked to crime guns.